SED sets timeline for major changes

On Board Online • November 25, 2024

By Sara Foss
Special Correspondent

The State Education Department (SED) has unveiled a timeline for "NY Inspires", a plan to make far-reaching changes to the state's education system over the next five years. It includes making the passing of Regents exams optional as a way to qualify for a high school diploma, beginning in 2027.

The plan also includes replacing New York's three diplomas with a single diploma, creating more pathways to graduation and using a new "portrait of a graduate" - a set of skills and knowledge students must demonstrate to earn a diploma.

All students entering ninth grade in 2027 and beyond will be required to earn at least one credit in career and technical education. In addition, instruction in financial literacy and climate education will become required.

A key part of the plan involves redefining credits to emphasize proficiency rather than the completion of time-based units of study (the current practice in most schools). Students will be able to demonstrate mastery of the state's learning standards in a variety of ways, such as in-depth projects, work or service-based learning experiences and successful completion of career and technical education programs. Certain achievements will qualify for seals and endorsements on diplomas, including an "advanced" designation.

All changes described in SED's plan are subject to approval by the Board of Regents.

Under the proposal, SED staff will flesh out the plan from the fall of 2024 to the summer of 2025, followed by three phases of implementation. Phase 3, called "full implementation and scaling up," would begin in the summer of 2029.

SED estimates implementing NY Inspires will cost $11.5 million, assuming the state Legislature and governor agree to fund the changes.

"There is no way to do this without adding on additional funding that we have to advocate for," said Education Commissioner Betty Rosa. "We're going to build it into our ask [to the Legislature] in phases, rather than all at once."

School districts will face several challenges as the plan is implemented, according to Zachary Warner, assistant commissioner for SED's Office of State Assessment.

"Management and implementation of multiple pathways is very complex and will require significant training and resources for our teachers and our counselors," he said during a presentation at the November meeting of the Board of Regents.

This school year, SED staff plan to ask the Board of Regents to approve a new portrait of a graduate - a set of skills and forms of knowledge needed to qualify for a diploma. SED previously announced that students will need to demonstrate their abilities and knowledge in seven areas:

• Critical thinking.
• Innovative problem solving.
• Literacy across all content areas.
• Cultural competency.
• Social-emotional competency.
• Effective communication.
• Global citizenry.

Under the plan, portrait-of-a-graduate rubrics and new learning standards will be released during an "installation" phase (fall 2025 to summer 2027). Instruction in financial literacy and climate education will be required, and details on the new credit requirement will also be released.

During the "initial implementation" phase (fall 2027 to summer 2029), the state will move to one diploma, and SED will describe how to earn various seals and endorsements. Credit will also be redefined, and the ways students can earn credit will be expanded.

Full implementation will occur in 2029. There will be a new statewide transcript, with proficiency in the state's learning standards and the portrait of a graduate required. New assessments will be aligned with new learning standards.

State education officials say NY Inspires will give students the skills and knowledge needed to thrive in an increasingly complex and interconnected world by allowing them to design educational pathways based on their own interests and aspirations. The plan emerged from the recommendations of SED's Blue Ribbon Commission on Graduation Measures, which were presented in late 2023.

Read an SED news release at bit.ly/4fmGFn5 . View a 29-page SED PowerPoint presentation on the plan at bit.ly/3UJjtHC .